Downtime 2

"I have no doubt the Oni can provide for all of our hostile spider lady needs... but just finding the one that's no doubt around here somewhere is a better option. Besides, she'd want a piece of someone's soul, and she takes at least a week to summon."

"The idea that she's a shifter raises some significant issues as to how dangerous she may be. Spiders are incredibly efficient predators, and clever enough when they are relatively mindless. As a Shifter she is basically one of these spiders, only sapient and intelligent, and probably with a whole pile of abilities we would rather an intelligent predator not have. The only good news is that spiders tend to be ambush predators, which means that she's likely to set herself up a spot and more or less stay there. With luck she will be smart enough to constrain her feedings to stray animals, or even just lots of the same things these guys eat. She didn't seem overly hostile when I saw her in the elevator shaft. If we can find her it's very possible we can reason with her and even get her help in wrangling these things. After all, I don't want to hurt them, I'm just curious about them and think that webbing probably has a ton of uses other than catching useless astral bats."

Sato visits the university and his contact Ichiro Doumeki. He says, "The only way to know what deed your inugami would want you to perform is to commune with your inugami. I have a... special concoction that I can whip up for you. Once you have finished it, your inugami will let you know what it is it wants of you. Strictly speaking, I may not technically be legally allowed to give you this concoction and the main ingredient is quite expensive. But I suppose if one were to provide a 1,250 nuyen donation to the university to help pay for the ingredients, perhaps they might overlook things, right?"

((Does this mean I have to pay for this potion or could I try to I initiate via another way, perhaps one of the 9 Paths to Enlightenment, like Harmony? I’d normally be fine to pay, but I won’t have enough left over to initiate))

WuJen wrote:"I have no doubt the Oni can provide for all of our hostile spider lady needs... but just finding the one that's no doubt around here somewhere is a better option. Besides, she'd want a piece of someone's soul, and she takes at least a week to summon."

"The idea that she's a shifter raises some significant issues as to how dangerous she may be. Spiders are incredibly efficient predators, and clever enough when they are relatively mindless. As a Shifter she is basically one of these spiders, only sapient and intelligent, and probably with a whole pile of abilities we would rather an intelligent predator not have. The only good news is that spiders tend to be ambush predators, which means that she's likely to set herself up a spot and more or less stay there. With luck she will be smart enough to constrain her feedings to stray animals, or even just lots of the same things these guys eat. She didn't seem overly hostile when I saw her in the elevator shaft. If we can find her it's very possible we can reason with her and even get her help in wrangling these things. After all, I don't want to hurt them, I'm just curious about them and think that webbing probably has a ton of uses other than catching useless astral bats."

Sato overhears this conversation as he finishes preparing his tea in the back of the room.

“If you wish, I could assist in tracking her down. Perhaps some of her scent ((or aural signature)) remains on the rooftop or in the elevator shaft.”

" I'd feel better at least knowing where she is. I'd hate to think we let something hostile and dangerous out that's going to hurt people. Equally, I'd hate for her to hurt or scare people and wind up hunted and killed out of ignorance and fear of an unfamiliar creature. She is also likely a fascinating study subject herself. If it's true she is related to these, she would also likely be of great help in dealing with them, if for no other reason than being able to simply ask her what they need and want. We know almost nothing about them."

" If you can track her that would be great. I looked for astral signatures earlier and didn't find anything, but we were kind of busy at the time. Topor shot her on the roof, but it didn't stop her. She may be quite angry or distrustful, several of the spiders in captivity here were killed by my Fire elemental before I knew they were here. I encountered the webs and ordered it to clear them not knowing what they were. I'd never seen anything like it. Some of the spiders attacked the elemental and it destroyed them. Or, she may not care... It's not like spiders are mammals or all that big on family bonds. Either way we could use her help or advice, and I'd apologize if she will hear it."

((remember that you don't pay your karma for initiation until you finish your initiation and initiation (especially an ordeal) takes a while, so your next run should easily cover the difference before you need to pay up the karma))

The professor says, "If you don't have the cash on you, you can give it to me later. I do expect to get paid though. This stuff is not cheap. A man of your means will certainly appreciate it's interesting side effects though."

At HQ

A look on the astral plane shows no signs of the girl. She didn't use any magic that you know of and it has been a couple days. Blood stains still remain, but exposure to the elements has ruined it for the purposes of a material link. Perhaps a very skilled tracker might be able to pick up some signs of what happened, but short of that it seems the trail ends there for now. ((If anyone has any skill at tracking/outdoors, they can try a tracking check. Defaulting won't work.))

GameMaster wrote:Sato((remember that you don't pay your karma for initiation until you finish your initiation and initiation (especially an ordeal) takes a while, so your next run should easily cover the difference before you need to pay up the karma))

The professor says, "If you don't have the cash on you, you can give it to me later. I do expect to get paid though. This stuff is not cheap. A man of your means will certainly appreciate it's interesting side effects though."[/color]

Sato buys the potion from Professor Doumeki and finds a quiet, out of the way place to mediate and consume the potion (like the roof of their firehouse with the door blocked so people won't just walk in on him while he's in his trance).

((the roof doesn't have a door. the elevator maintenance room does though. There are also no shortage of rooms with beds and lockable doors for you to be doing drugs in within the building itself. We'll assume you use one of those.))

The professor gives Sato a cone of incense along with a little base to burn it in and tells him to light it in a closed room and breathe deeply of the smoke while thinking about Inugami and what can be done to appease him. The dreamsage will do the rest of the work for him. Doing as told, Sato takes the incense with him back to the HQ and burns it in a small room, disabling the smoke alarm before doing so to avoid setting it off. After about a minute of breathing in the smoke, Sato's body goes stiff and the world fades away around him.

In the dreamworld wrote:Sato finds himself in a field of rice on a moonlit night. The muddy water around him comes up to his ankles, filling his designer shoes with water and bogging him down as he walks forward. He suddenly realizes that he is holding a leash and that leash is connected to the throat of a man. But it is not quite a man. There is a cloud of smoke around the man's face that makes his features indistinct and seem to shift in the moonlight. Sometimes the silhouette seems almost like that of a dog while others it is pretty clearly that of a man. The leashed being is clearly powerful, but Sato instinctively knows that as long as he holds onto the leash, the being is under his control. This being is Inugami.

An aura of hatred burns from around Inugami. It hates being bound but can do nothing about it. At least, not for now. It pulls on the leash with a force so powerful that Sato feels as though his arm is going to be torn from his socket, but he maintains hold of the leash. With an indignant howl Inugami gestures forward, as if getting permission to go in that direction. With no better ideas, Sato nods and follows Inugami as the pair slosh through the mud, ruining the rice crop as they go. At the edge of the field, a small house is lit for the night. Following along, but not daring to lose hold of the leash, Sato enters the house behind Inugami and suddenly finds himself in a rather fancy looking hotel, his muddy shoes leaving tracks on the marble floor.

Carved into the marble is the name of the hotel: Aman. Sato was familiar with this hotel. It was a luxury hotel occupying the top six floors of the recently-built Otemachi Tower. Towering high above the clouds, it is a place for wealthy elites. The staff and patrons of the hotel do not seem to notice Sato nor Inugami as they slosh through the lobby, to the elevator and eventually to the penthouse suite. The elevator doors open and security is extremely tight with cameras, armed guards, drones and enough illegal firepower to ruin the day of any uninvited guests. None of those things seem to notice the pair as they stroll right up to the door and move through it. Inugami turns to Sato and places something into his free hand. Sato recognizes it as the ritual dagger that was passed down through his family. The same ritual dagger that had originally created Inugami and bound it to the service of Sato's family.

For the briefest of moments, Sato could see glimpses of the ritual that had created Inugami. He saw a loyal family dog starved to the point of madness next to seven other equally loyal dogs. Every day a small fish was thrown into the enclosure. It was enough to just barely feed one of the dogs. Whoever was fastest would get it as the bellies of the others grumbled for another day. After a few days, the dogs knew that only one would eat and when the fish was thrown into the enclosure they fought each other over it. One dog got the fish. One dog died. The remaining dogs fed on the dead dog. The next day it was the same, but this time there was only half a fish. The dogs fought. One got the fish and was torn apart by the remaining dogs and fed upon. By the day after that, the dogs no longer bothered with the fish, instead leaping at the throat of whatever dog seemed to be weakest so they may all eat for another day. After many days of this, only the dog that would become Inugami remained. For days or weeks, no more fish came and there were no more dogs to fight and eat. The dog grew weak with hunger and could barely move. It just lay on the ground, awaiting death and wondering what it had done to deserve such a fate at the hands of its beloved master.

It is at this time that the master appeared, the same ritual knife in his hand. Using the small knife, he sawed through the weakened dog's neck and removed the head, a process that took several painful minutes as the knife was not adequate for decapitation. The head, somehow still alive, is buried beneath a crossroad. Rage and indignation build within the creature's soul as it feels the weight of countless people unknowingly stepping on its head through the dirt above. The steps crush his soul until all he is is a concentration of hatred to be directed by his master as he sees fit.

Blinking his eyes, Sato finds himself in the penthouse suite again, ritual dagger still in his hands. The trid in the room is on and there appears to be a news broadcast on. It is the 30th of Rokugatsu. The time is midnight.

As the news broadcaster talks, a man enters the room and unlike all the others in the hotel, he can actually see Sato. In fact, he is Sato. Before his doppelganger can call for security, Sato plunges the dagger into his throat and removes the copy's head in much the same way Inugami's first master had done to create the spirit. The body dies, but the head remains alive. It rolls along the ground and soon countless other heads, each of which appearing to belong to Sato roll into the room and surround him. Suddenly, they begin to laugh. Just a chuckle at first, but then a louder giggle. Soon the whole room is a chorus of deafening guffaws emanating from the various heads of Sato.

Inugami, still held by the leash, is standing within the circle of Sato heads. It nods in approval and appears to have grown stronger by the effort.

Sato awakens in the real world, finding himself clutching the ritual dagger that he saw in his visions. The same he knew he had, but was unsure what it was. He is unsure how he came to be holding it now, but the vision he had seemed to make it very clear as to what inugami wants done.

((I can't remember if there was an actual specific date set?))Sam hasn't forgotten that he's scheduled (or was supposed to schedule?) a date with his cousin. So, he contacts her to set the date, or he goes on it if they had already set a time.

As promised, Sam meets with Hanako at a local cafe in the afternoon the day after he finishes his job. Sam is not much of an outgoing person so he doesn't really know anything about the cafe and pretty much assumes it is just the same as any other cafe. Quiet place. You sit down, have coffee, maybe some overpriced scones, and that should cover the extent of the date as far as he is concerned.

When he arrives he finds Hanako waiting outside. She is dressed up with makeup and a cute outfit that suggests she took a lot of time preparing for this date. He had decided to wear his "good" face mask to both look stylish and help protect against the high pollen count that would no doubt set his allergies off that day. When she sees Sam, she waves and runs over to give him a hug. She then gestures to the cafe and says something that he doesn't catch. This is not unusual. Unless she is particularly worked up over something, her voice is typically the volume of an ant's whisper and Sam has gotten used to just going along with whatever she seems to be trying to convey. He isn't terribly good at words anyway and his allergies were making his throat raw and nose sniffly, so silence works for him.

As they enter Sam quickly realizes this is not a normal cafe. It can't possibly be. There are cats everywhere, lounging on tables, wandering between people's legs and likely shedding enough dander to be violating dozens of health violations. He suddenly feels less enthusiastic about having a coffee here.

Hanako and Sam have a seat at a table where a pair of extremely fat cats are lounging atop it, their bodies entwined in one another's embrace. The pair each order a coffee which the cats promptly knock off the table, because of course they do, they're cats. Just the same, Sam didn't really want to drink anything here. He awkwardly reaches out and pets one of the cats while Hanako gingerly reaches out to pet the other. While she does seem to talk, Sam never manages to pick up a word of it. He does his best to at least seem interested though.

After a couple of hours of basically just playing with cats, they decide to leave. Things must have gone well because Hanako gives Sam a warm hug and removes his mask to offer him a kiss. However, the sudden influx of pollen causes Sam's nose to itch in anticipation of what he knows is going to be a massive sneeze. He does his best to hold it back, but that only causes the sneeze to be forced through his nose. The end result is two long, high-velocity ropes of snot launching at Hanako's face and striking with enough force to make an audible splat. Hanako squeals, the moment lost. By the time they clean up the mess, Hanako seems ready to go home. Sam escorts her to the train station and she rides a train back home.

As Sam walks back to his moped, he receives a message from Hanako on his commlink:

>>>> Thank you for the day. Most of it was fun. I hope you feel better and we can try again when you aren't feeling under the weather.

((remember that you don't pay your karma for initiation until you finish your initiation and initiation (especially an ordeal) takes a while, so your next run should easily cover the difference before you need to pay up the karma))

The professor says, "If you don't have the cash on you, you can give it to me later. I do expect to get paid though. This stuff is not cheap. A man of your means will certainly appreciate it's interesting side effects though."

At HQ

A look on the astral plane shows no signs of the girl. She didn't use any magic that you know of and it has been a couple days. Blood stains still remain, but exposure to the elements has ruined it for the purposes of a material link. Perhaps a very skilled tracker might be able to pick up some signs of what happened, but short of that it seems the trail ends there for now. ((If anyone has any skill at tracking/outdoors, they can try a tracking check. Defaulting won't work.))

((@Sun - nah. your limit is pretty high and if it were 0, you'd be dead))

Sun takes a look at the roof. It's been a few days, so there isn't much to work with. He can see from the blood splatter that whoever was in it got up and ran in the direction opposite of the stairs. All that's there is a sheer drop off the building unless you can do a good 20 ft jump onto the next building. TorporTorpor makes a call to his weapons contact Buki Daitenken. When asked for a silencer, he says, "No problem! I even have some in stock. Wire over 575 and I'll have a courier run one to wherever you like."

On the roofFrom this side, there is nothing in particular to see. Sun doesn't expect that there is much more to be seen on that side. There are no traces of webbing at all to be found. Wherever she went, she's probably long gone now.

After a few days, Wujen finally finishes up the lodge and it is time for the ritual to begin. It is a powerful ritual, well beyond his capabilities to cast, but with some restrictions to the ritual, it becomes much more manageable. The members assembled are Wujen, Sato, Torpor and Sun. Though they differ in traditions they are united as a team. You each provide a blood sample which is placed within the lodge, making you all of one purpose. Then come the oaths:

You swear to always attend a monthly gathering. You swear to help pay to maintain this headquarters. You swear to never become part of another group. You swear to aid each other in your times of need.

Should any of you fail to meet the requirements of the group, you shall be forever branded a traitor until such time as atonement can be made. Do you all agree to these terms?

((Everyone who is agreeing to the ritual should state "I agree" and perform some check relevant to the skills they bring to the group, or step out of the lodge if you change your mind about being part of the group bond. Wujen needs to make a ritual magic check, Sun an unarmed check, Torpor a pistol check and Sato negotiations. When you make the check, rp out what it is you specifically do while making the check. Everyone but Wujen gets a -2 to their check since they aren't hermetic mages.))

Torpor takes a couple (3) soycaf cans and places them around the room, takes out a a single round checks it over then places it by itself in a clip (the round looks kind of funny, almost fake (rubber round)). Then he double checks his cans and the angles from each one to where he ends up standing, he seems to be looking up the cans and the walls behind them to try and shoot them all with one shot. Torpor then takes a deep breath as he quickly draws his pistol and fires Athens the first can with a strange angle, "I agree." He says almost in a Zen voice.

Last edited by Torpor on Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:32 am; edited 1 time in total